The Best Four Years
by A.Pevensie
Summary: People say college is the best four years of your life. Shikamaru disagrees. No four years that started with meeting a stubborn, fiercely independent, pretty blonde junior could possibly be the best of his life. AU. A series of short collegiate scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters - and this applies for all chapters of this story (unless something changes, in which case, don't worry, I'll let you know!)**

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"That one's heavy – I'll carry it. Girls shouldn't be doing manual labor like this anyway."

The blonde came out of her squat and lifted the box in one easy movement. She flicked her eyes up and down him with deliberation then said coolly, "Do you say that to all the older girls who are helping you move in, or am I just lucky?"

The boy sighed, sensing a familiar argument. "Don't be a pain. I was just trying to save you the trouble."

"Well I think I can handle it, kid." She turned and walking towards the dorm, where the main door was propped open by a cinderblock.

"I'm on the seventh floor." he called after her, above the noise of cars and parents and volunteers and new students. "And the elevator is stuck on the fifth – someone just tried to take a couch up in it."

He could hear her laughing from the doorway as she turned to face him. "What? You not up to a little challenge, kid? Afraid I'll beat you?" She grinned suddenly then schooled her face into a look of mock-sympathy. "It's okay, you're new here so I promise to go easy on you." She winked, hefted the box up a little more securely, and made her way quickly into the busy hallway.

Tilting his head back so he could look at the sky, the young man muttered. "Seriously, was a quiet move-in day with no crazy girls too much to ask for? And now I've got to get to the seventh floor before she does. What a pain."

He glanced at the doorway, now blocked by three young men attempting to get a 42" flatscreen past two mothers with armfuls of clothes and several volunteers wheeling suitcases. Great, just what he needed: a traffic jam. With a final shrug he reached into the trunk and pulled out a suitcase, leaving his father to move the car. No way he was going to beat the girl up to his room, especially since she probably knew where she was going. No point in rushing, then.

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**A/N: New story! These will be short chapters, each with just a scene or two, and they'll go in chronological order. Enjoy! And reviews would be deeply appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Sure enough, the blonde was waiting for him in his room, smirking. "Took you long enough, kid. Here, I put your box in the middle-"

"I noticed." he muttered, glancing down at the box she was sitting on.

"-since I wasn't sure if you cared what side you got." she finished. "Have you got a preference?"

He thought for a moment. "No."

"Left it is, then." She stood up and shoved the box to the side. "Got any more stuff?"

He shrugged. "A box or two that my parents are getting. I didn't really feel like packing."

"Well, I don't know if you're practical or just lazy, but I'm glad you packed light. Some girls bring so much crap … ugh." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head for a moment before snapping back to business. "Alright, I'll leave you to unpack, if you think you can handle hard labor like that, and I'll call the RA on my way out."

She shot him one last smirk, clearly still cheerful about having beaten him up the stairs, and headed out the door. "Hey, Hyuuga!" she yelled as she went down the hallway. "You've got a new one in 741!"

He sat down on the bed, looking at the box and suitcase. His mom would rearrange everything anyway, so he didn't really see a point in starting to unpack.

"Are you Shikamaru Nara or Choji Akimichi?" asked a level voice from the doorway.

The boy looked up to see someone – presumably the RA, Hyuuga – looking into the room. He was dressed neatly, in crisp khaki shorts, a very white polo, and expensive looking shoes; clearly he wasn't doing any of the actual moving in.

"Shikamaru." the boy said, with a nod.

"I'm your RA, Neji Hyuuga. I'm down the hall in 763. Let me know if you need anything." And he was gone, his footsteps inaudible in the bustle of furniture and belongings being moved through the hallway.

Shikamaru lay back on the bare mattress, glancing towards the one window. He was still there when his mother came in with a bag of linens and a laundry hamper that wasn't likely to get used much. "You, up!" she barked. "The Akimichis will be here soon and your first orientation session is in an hour. Unpack!"

His father examined the room. "Nice view." he commented, glancing out the window. Shikamaru strolled to the window. His father was right – the campus was built on a hill, and the dorm, situated on the edge of campus, overlooked the town with a clear view of the open sky above it.

His mother glanced at them shrewdly. "Get over here then. We'll move one of the beds underneath the window. And hurry up," she added, as Shikamaru lingered, leaning against the sill and looking out at the clouds.

"So," Choji said later than night, as he shoved a suitcase under his bed, "think you'll like it here?"

Shikamaru thought about it, then shrugged. "Too soon to tell."

Choji grinned, suddenly. "By the way, Ino _did_ decide to come, did you know?"

A groan was the only reply.

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**A/N: Reviews are great :) Also, this a drabble-esque series, so a lot will be shorter that this - just a warning. Hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you in the right place, kid?" a voice above and a little to the left of him asked curiously. Shikamaru lifted his head off his arms and looked up into the blue eyes of the blonde who helped him move in three days before.

"If this is Chem 252, yes."

"You're a freshman!" she said, incredulous. "This is a upper level class." She shook her head. "I hope you're not in over your head, kid."

She sat in the row in front of him, pulling books and a notebook out of a shoulder bag, then turned to him suddenly. "And aren't you a little early?"

"You're here too." He pointed out.

"I'm meeting with the professor – who's also my advisor." She retorted.

"My roommate made me get up for breakfast and it was a shorter walk to the classroom than back to the dorm."

He was rewarded for his honesty with a snort of almost laughter.

"Seriously? When was that?" The reply was muffled by the desk and his arms, but she was fairly certain that he said 9. "That was over an hour ago!" She scrutinized him. "That's pathetic. You sure you're in an advanced chemistry class?"

He was saved from a reply by the entrance of the professor, a tall thin woman in her mid-forties.

"Ah, Subaku, I'm glad you're here early. You had a question about lab postings?"

"Yes." the blonde said, standing up and turning. "You see, I'm also in –" but Shikamaru didn't bother to listen to the rest.

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**A/N:** Sorry the update took a bit! Reviews are appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

He was packing up his bag after class when the blonde interrupted his thoughts again. "Glad to see you've got _some_ sense." she said. "I was worried you'd be too lazy to take notes. Anderson's tests are no joke – you'll need them."

Shikamaru shrugged.

She looked amused. "So tell me, how'd you end up in this class anyway?"

He glanced sideways at her as they walked out of the classroom. "Didn't you say I was pathetic?"

She punched him in the arm. It hurt. "Getting to class an hour early _is_ pathetic, and you didn't answer the question."

They walked in silence for a few moments. She didn't go away. "My dad." he said, finally.

The girl looked at him quizzically. "My dad's the reason I'm in this class." He elaborated. "School's a pain, but after my mom went ballistic over a C I got in math in 10th grade, I complained to my dad, he said 'If you want to retire early you're going to have to make some money while you're working.'"

"And?" she finally prompted.

Shikamaru shrugged. "He was right."

"And that's it, suddenly you're in college and organic chem II?"

"Pretty much." He responded, lacing his hands behind his head. "I decided to get into a good school, finish with it quickly, and get a decent job where I can make enough to retire early."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me." she said, incredulous. "That's it, that's all you want to do with your life?"

Shikamaru considered the question for a minute. "Yes."

She rolled her eyes, and they parted ways as they exited the building. She was as bad as Ino; Shikamaru hoped this last conversation would irritate her enough to make her leave him alone.

It might have worked, if they hadn't been partnered for a project three weeks later.

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**A/N:** Super fast update! Sorry, 2 updates a day isn't going to be a regular thing, but since the last chapter was so short and it'd been so long before I uploaded it ... I couldn't resist :)


	5. Chapter 5

"This isn't going to be too hard." She said, scanning the assignment sheet. "But it's going to take some time. When are you free?"

"Evenings, mostly. I have a lab work-study in the afternoons."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Then you can meet me in the library at 9. I get off work at 8:30, but I can get there by then." She pulled a pen out of her bag and scribbled something in a notebook, then grabbed his hand. Shikamaru looked at her in mild alarm. "Don't be such a baby," she scowled. "I just don't want you to forget." He looked down to see that she'd written "9 – library (Temari)" on his hand.

"I probably would have remembered without that." He said, mildly.

She raised an eyebrow, giving him an amused, slightly disbelieving look before lifting her bag onto her shoulder. "Whatever you say, kid. And don't be late. And if you're there before me, pick a good table, one of the ones on the second floor where we won't be surrounded by a bunch of loud jocks in the library for study hour requirements." She didn't wait for a reply.

Shikamaru looked down at his hand. She'd used a felt-tipped pen, and the ink was spiderwebbing out in miniscule black lines across his skin. She _was_ worse than Ino.

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**A/N: I know this is kind of short and kind of late ... sorry! But my summer job and studying for the GRE are taking up more time than I'd like :( But reviews are love! **


	6. Chapter 6

She wasn't there yet, he noted, looking around. Well, it wasn't quite nine; she still had time. He'd use the few extra minutes to look over the material. There was no sense in antagonizing her, and it wouldn't hurt to show her that he could work when he needed to.

Just as the bell tower outside the library struck nine with a muffled dong, Shikamaru looked up to see Temari striding into the library. She reached the table where he was sitting just on the last stroke. "Pushing it, aren't you?" he asked.

"And here I thought I'd asked you not to pick a crappy table. In case you hadn't noticed, this is the first floor."

He shrugged. "There was a big group upstairs."

She looked around grudgingly. "Well, at least you picked a corner one." She swung her bag onto the table, pulled out a slightly scuffed black notebook, the textbook, a few printed sheets, and a calculator, before producing several pens from a pocket somewhere on her person. "So," she said, sitting down across from him, "let's get to work."

Shikamaru looked at the closely written sheets in the notebook she was flipping through. Some of it seemed to be in a kind of messy shorthand, and there were diagrams and extra notes all over the margins. "I thought you'd be more organized." He commented, secretly relieved that she didn't write in shimmery purple pen like a certain other blonde.

"At least I take notes." She said, absently, flipping to a specific spot. "Here. You've got those initial equations too, right? Because I'm not going back over them with you."

Shikamaru sighed and opened his own notebook. It was going to be a long night.

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**A/N:** Reviews are love! :)


	7. Chapter 7

"You're not including the calcium binding." She insisted. They'd been arguing for the last two and a half hours, but Shikamaru was reluctantly impressed. Temari was smart, with a good grasp of the material and an uncanny ability to ask the most relevant question for the problem at hand.

"Look," he responded, pointing to a spot on the piece of paper lying between them. "It's right here."

It helped that Temari, for all she kept calling him "kid," listened to his suggestions and took them into account. And she was usually very direct and to the point, something he wasn't used to from girls (most of his experience coming from Ino).

"Oh?" She retorted. "And how did it get there, magic?" She used her pencil to stab a spot further up on the paper. "You haven't included it here."

... but she certainly wasn't one to back down from an argument. Not backing down being exactly what she was doing at the moment.

Shikamaru sighed. "It's not there because that's a step too early. It comes in here," pointing, "in between these two. It's ..."

She listened carefully for a few moments, but finally held up a hand to silence him. "Look, I think I see where you're going with that, but I can't do this anymore. We're almost done, and we need a break. Get your stuff, we're going to get some coffee."

Shikamaru looked up, surprised at the abrupt shift in the conversation. She was already standing up, stuffing things into her bag and grabbing a pencil from his side of the table. He leaned back in the chair and stretched a kink out of his neck. "The café downstairs is still open?"

"Yeah, they're open till 2. Don't tell me you don't drink coffee – does the caffeine get in the way of your naps?" The corners of her mouth lifted slightly when he shrugged. "We'll finish this there." She was walking away before he'd even stood up.

Damn it, he thought. Why did he always get stuck with the pushy ones?

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**A/N: Reviews make my day! (hint, hint) :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Temari had already ordered her drink when he arrived (it looked like it might be plain black coffee) but he hardly had time to notice because, as he gathered when she handed him the second cup from the serving counter, she'd ordered something for him as well. He shot her a look above the rim as he took the paper container from her hand.

"Hazelnut cappuccino," she said blandly. Shikamaru eyed it dubiously for a moment, then took a sip – and promptly choked. She watched him with detachment, adding "with a double shot of espresso."

"That what you usually drink?" He asked, adding in a lower voice, "That explains a few things."

"If you don't like it," she said, tartly, "then get your lazy ass down here faster and you can order your own drink. And next time I won't pay, either."

"If you're waiting for me to thank you for this …" he trailed off, and she almost laughed.

"Get something else it it really bothers you. I just thought you could use the caffeine." She settled herself into a chair at one of the small round tables.

"That sip was probably plenty." He responded, taking the seat across from her.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, but she didn't respond, instead leaning back in her chair and sighing in pleasure as she sipped her own drink. Shikamaru idly flipped through the work they'd already done. "I didn't think you were that eager to work on this." He shrugged. "Fine then, I'll make the conversation. So, what's your major? Chem?"

Shikamaru nodded. "For the moment." He shook his cup gently, watching steam rising from the small hole in the plastic lid. "You?"

Temari made a face. "Well … biology."

"If you don't like, shouldn't you have switched earlier? And aren't you a little late on draw for this class?"

"A little." She shrugged. "Most people do take it as sophomores, but I couldn't fit in before now. And biology wasn't my first choice, but … what can you do. I pick up more interesting courses as electives."

"What did you want to be in?" he asked, curious in spite of himself.

For a moment she looked as serious as he'd seen her yet. Then she shrugged again. "I didn't have a definite plan. But I figured bio couldn't be too bad – I'm good at science. It runs in the family – as it seems to do in yours, kid." She took one last gulp from the cup before pulling her papers forward, "Let's finish this. Now, explain what this mess you scribbled over here is, and quit leaving out half the steps."

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**A/N: Many thanks to symbolic moons who beta'd this :) And I'd love to hear what people thought of this - please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

The next week, when a group lab-prep was announced, she cornered him as he walked out the door after class. "We're doing this together, boy genius." She told him. "I can't stand half the idiots in this class, and I'm sure you can't either."

"Do you have to call me that?" he responded. But knowing he would be working with Temari came as something of a relief. She was right – he _would_ be bored, or at least irritated, if he worked with almost anyone else. Temari didn't seem to mind that he was a freshman and therefore easily the youngest in the class, nor was she at all embarrassed about his being better at some of the math than she. Not that she cut him any slack if he happened to be wrong, of course, but overall she wasn't bad to work with.

He came back down to earth when she hit him. "Are you going to stand there all day? C'mon." She turned, but waited for him before leaving.

Why, he wondered, was she walking down the hall with him? Surely she wasn't planning on hanging out. If so, he took back everything he'd just thought about her being easy to work with. Projects and labs were one thing, but actually spending time with her … it was a horrifying thought.

She stopped when they got to the door out of the building. "When did you want to start this?" He asked, hoping.

"Just what I was going to ask you." She grinned. "Nine in the library work for you again?"

Perfect: now he could agree, and she'd leave him alone. "Sure, I guess."

"Good. Don't be late!" She walked away with a wave.

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**A/N: Sorry this is so late! I know it's way too long to have to wait for less than 300 words! Unfortunately, my updating is going to continue to be pretty sporadic - I finished my summer job but moved back to my parent's house and then out to my new job (nannying), so all the moving and settling in have taken a lot of time ... hence no updates till now. And until I really get settled here, it's going to be hard to do much writing or updating, even though the chapters are so short. But yeah, hope that at least explains my absence! ~A.P.**


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